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FACT CHECK ON SCOTT WALKER’S WILDLY MISLEADING STATE OF THE STATE CLAIMS: JOBS

Posted January 14, 2013

WALKER CLAIM: Create 250,000 jobs in first term in office

FACT: Back in December 2010, Walker went so far as to say, "I want my Cabinet secretaries to have branded across their heads, `250,000 jobs.' I want them to know their job is on the line because my job is on the line to create 250,000 jobs in the private sector."

In fact, at his first State of the State address, Walker defined success for his first term as governor by his "ability to shape an environment where 250,000 jobs are created.”

But by every measure, Scott Walker has failed on his signature pledge to create 250,000 jobs.

Instead of “focusing like lasers” on job creation, Scott Walker and his Legislature pursued a divisive and extreme social agenda, while letting more than 50 job creation bills -- many of which contained proposals that have historically enjoyed broad bipartisan support -- die on the table.

As he blames everyone but himself, Scott Walker’s Wisconsin has been far from successful when it comes to job creation, ranking 42nd in the nation behind states like Alabama and trailing our neighbors in the Midwest, like Ohio and Michigan.

Citing the Walker administration's projections, The Capital Times recently reported that, "Wisconsin won’t come anywhere close to hitting Gov. Scott Walker’s “250,000 new jobs” target by the November 2014 election," and that the state, "will end up adding 38,000 jobs for 2011 and 2012, far fewer than Walker’s recent — and highly questionable — claim that the state has created more than 80,000 jobs during his first two years in office."

Even a top administration jobs official recently came to the crude conclusion that, when it comes to job creation under Scott Walker, "We suck. We're bad." and "Clearly we have to do things differently."